Sept. 7, 2006
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Former Santa Clara University women's basketball standout and 2005-06 WCC Player of the Year Michelle Cozad will continue her career professionally this coming season, reporting to camp with defending Swiss LNA champion Elfic Fribourg in Switzerland.
"I'm really excited and nervous about this opportunity, really I'm feeling all sorts of emotions right now," said Cozad. "I'm just really excited to continue playing basketball, because I know I would miss it, so I'd like to play for as long as I can."
In three seasons at Santa Clara after transferring in from San Joaquin Delta College, Cozad established herself as one of the best players in SCU women's basketball history, most notably by joining the "1,000-Point Club" this past March 2 in a WCC Tournament quartefinal game against Portland.
Cozad ended her career 13th on the all-time scoring list with 1,072, and her per-game average of 15.8 is second-best all-time, behind only the 20.0 points a game of Melissa (King) Fisher.
The Stockton native is also in the career top-five in the categories of rebounding average (6.3 - 8th), three-point field goals (135 - T-6th), attempts (358 - 5th), and accuracy (37.7% - T-8th).
In helping lead the Broncos to the 2005-06 WCC regular-season title, Cozad paced the loop with 18.1 points a game and ended up placing in the top-10 in 12 different statistical categories in the Santa Clara single-season record book. For her successful season, she was named the WCC Player of the Year.
"Michelle is coming off of a phenomenal career at Santa Clara and we are happy and excited to see her continue her basketball career," said Santa Clara head coach Michelle Bento-Jackson. "She has worked hard to put herself in a position to have this opportunity and I know that she will represent herself and the Broncos very well. We wish Michelle the best of luck and I'm sure she will make us all very proud as she begins her basketball career in Switzerland."
"I'm always going to cherish the time I spent here, much more than anyone knows," Cozad reflected. "These past few years really helped me grow as a person and a basketball player to be able to get this opportunity, and I'm grateful to have come out of such a great school and basketball program."
Elfic Fribourg, located in western Switzerland, won the 2005-06 league title with a 3-0 Finals sweep of Esperance Sportive Pully.